some... tennis is a wonderful sport...i fell in love with it in the early 70's (i'm 49) but the last two majors have suffered greatly...oz was obvious....i give joker full credit, i've grown to really respect him but to say nadal didn't help him a bit to win the title would be wrong...while murray couldn't put away fed easier djokovic was able to come down from the wawrinka match nicely as the tourney went on...yes, murray got a break with del potro losing but his one tough pre-final match did end up hurting him....in the end, which side of the draw murray ended up in was huge, way bigger than it should have been...fed's tough draw was overrated, until he got to murray, than it was really hard compared to novak

and the us open wasn't much better...ferrer got a break for one set with the wind to deal with novak but it was over the next day easily and quickly...i love david but he is not a member of the big anything..and yes, murray did win the title, but that's not the point..the entertainment factor suffered terribly

olympics worked out fine, wtf obviously has been rafa's weak link, but two majors damaged show he has been missed big time...wawrinka, tsonga, berdych, ferrer, tipsarevic all play a role, nicely at times, but you can't replace a superstar easily at all

finally, if bodo or anybody thinks tennis, men's tennis, is not being set up for some real trouble here in about five, and certainly ten years, down the road they are kidding themselves...people may not realize how good they have it now...that next generation is not good, not good at all, there is not a single transcendent player, that is apparent...and i'm not hearing anything about a great junior out there

some writer (it may have been tignor or wertheim, i'm not sure) recently said he had come to believe nadal was absolutely the key figure in this golden age of men's tennis...not the best, he said that was federer, but that nadal was the linchpin in all these great rivalries...and i believe that as well...even all these truly despicable human beings who live for nothing other than to hate on him like he's the devil prove that point...nadal is a driving force of the entire sport...hopefully he's back for a while now and playing well...if not, maybe he will have to get surgery and then try to come back after that if he wants...if not then he can retire and enjoy the waters off mallorca and playing poker and golf.....a huge loss for tennis but if he's content then that's all that matters

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In regards to the first bolded point. If it makes you feel any better, it won't matter for RG, and Nadal is coming back anyway.

In regards to the 2nd one, I disagree. Nadal hasn't been a linchpin in anything. First it was Nadal who rose up to challenge Federer, sure I give him that one, but the Nadal-Djokovic rivalry was created by Novak the same way Nadal created his rivalry with Fed, and the same way Murray is getting there now. In essence, I don't mean to give Federer so much credit, but I truly believe it was all "created" by him. Nadal rose up to challenge Federer, and then the trickle down effect occured. So I guess you could say that Nadal proved Federer was beatable, and then Djokovic followed, but if Federer wasn't so good in the first place, I don't think Nadal or Djokovic would be half the players they are today IMHO.

It's like me playing school age chess here in this province from K-12 (I actually did). There was a guy who started out playing chess in this system until up to the end of grade 3. But there wasn't much competition here and he was exceptionally good. He's since moved to Ontario and become a GM (Grandmaster). It's the highest rank you can get as a chess player. But the only way he would achieve what he did was to move away to Ontario.

As a result of this, I benefited greatly because the only guy I couldn't beat was him. Won many tournaments I would've had trouble winning otherwise unless I got better which I would've been forced to do. If you'll allow me to brag a little bit, I actually got out of my province, and got to play at the Canadian Chess Challenge (CCC) Nationals which is held in a different province every year, for every year after he left. But if he had stuck around, I would've been forced to get better than I am now, but I may not have gotten to play for my province at the Nationals so many times.

Every is bashing Bodo and acusing him of being a Nadal hater, but I remember many Bodo articles about Nadal which were so complimentary to Nadal it was like Bodo had a man crush. Bodo has written tons of praise about Nadal and I got the impression Nadal was one of his favorites a few years ago.

I think the criticism by Bodo has merit.

Does Nadal have a knee injury or not? Is he finally going to play or not?

Plus Nadal's OCD and many medical timeouts in key matches put me off. Why does he have to line up his water bottles? Be the last one out on court for the coin toss? Jump up and down during the coin toss? Run zig zap back to the baseline for warm-up? Pick his jock strap incestantly? The guy is weird.

Tennis will be fine without him. Djoko, Murray and Federer are all great players and hopefully we will see some new twist from Tsonga or Del Po. Maybe some of the new guys like Dimitrov, Milos, or Jersey J can make a break thru. Bodo is correct the game is bigger than anyone player.

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Bodo, like 90% of journos, is a shill that will write what he thinks will get him hits. He obviously has favourites but doesn't really show it. I've seen him write less than flattering articles for all of the top 3 so I don't think he has any major bias. Heck, he supposedly "favors" Nadal but he basically accused him of doping in article after he missed AO 06 due to injury.

He just writes mostly banal crap(like "no player is bigger than the game" shtick - WOW, really? I had no idea, I thought tennis would end when Nadal/Fed/Djoko retire) with a hint of something controversial(heck the word "controversial" is in the title itself here) to rack up the hits on his articles(since haters of players x will flock to troll/flame and the fans of players x to defend him). But would this guy actually own up to "criticism" he bestowes on players in articles in real life? Hell no, this guy is a coward, just like most of his colleagues. You think he would actually ask Nadal or anybody from the Nadal camp why the give out (seemingly) contradictory information? Why he doesn't get surgery? If the Rosol defeat played any part in the 7 month absence(see the "Nadal was just mentally shook hence he took time off" theory)? If he would truly believe what he writes he would certainly do so. And unlike us, he actually can set up a face to face with Nadal or any other player he wrote something "controversial" about.

I bet you the next time he is in a press conference with Nadal he will ask safe PR questions and in return get safe PR answers. Then he will complain about the Nadal camp some more while not confronting(face to face) them on any issue regarding Rafa's health.

Bozo still hasn't figured out after all these years that Nadal has a CHRONIC condition which isn't really curable, so Nadal doesn't really have the option of PAIN FREE, only pain and less pain. It boggles the mind that people belive Nadal has an option that could cure him and not take it.

And who says you have to be a Nadal fan to miss him? Just the fact that he is out makes the slam SF really unbalanced cause Ferrer, bless him, can't really hold his own against the top guns. Even if we were talking about a sub-par Nadal, a 11 GS winner always has a important part to play in the draw.

If Nadal never existed how could anyone complain about the absence of a non-entity in today's game?

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Ok, admittedly bad logic, but do you see my point? People are complaining because Nadal is/was not playing, but if he wasn't there from the start, this era with Federer, Djokovic, and Murray, plus others, would be fine as it is in most peoples eyes, and nobody would be complaining over a certain player's absence. That's my point.

I guess it's always fun to support underdogs. And with 0 credentials on clay, Murray is as massive an underdog as there ever will be!

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Murray is a French Open Semi Finalist and grew up playing on clay in Spain. Murray could be considered every bit a contender with Novak and Roger at this event. Until I see Nadal play and see any new weaknesses, he's my favorite for any clay court event.

Bodo, like 90% of journos, is a shill that will write what he thinks will get him hits. He obviously has favourites but doesn't really show it. I've seen him write less than flattering articles for all of the top 3 so I don't think he has any major bias. Heck, he supposedly "favors" Nadal but he basically accused him of doping in article after he missed AO 06 due to injury.

He just writes mostly banal crap(like "no player is bigger than the game" shtick - WOW, really? I had no idea, I thought tennis would end when Nadal/Fed/Djoko retire) with a hint of something controversial(heck the word "controversial" is in the title itself here) to rack up the hits on his articles(since haters of players x will flock to troll/flame and the fans of players x to defend him). But would this guy actually own up to "criticism" he bestowes on players in articles in real life? Hell no, this guy is a coward, just like most of his colleagues. You think he would actually ask Nadal or anybody from the Nadal camp why the give out (seemingly) contradictory information? If he would truly believe what he writes he would certainly do so. And unlike us, he actually can set up a face to face with Nadal.

I bet you the next time he is in a press conference with Nadal he will ask safe PR questions and in return get safe PR answers.

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Agreed completely. These so-called journalists are lapdogs. Nadal's camp should be questioned on the contradictory PR crap they dish out.

Bodo, like 90% of journos, is a shill that will write what he thinks will get him hits. He obviously has favourites but doesn't really show it. I've seen him write less than flattering articles for all of the top 3 so I don't think he has any major bias. Heck, he supposedly "favors" Nadal but he basically accused him of doping in article after he missed AO 06 due to injury.

He just writes mostly banal crap(like "no player is bigger than the game" shtick - WOW, really? I had no idea, I thought tennis would end when Nadal/Fed/Djoko retire) with a hint of something controversial(heck the word "controversial" is in the title itself here) to rack up the hits on his articles(since haters of players x will flock to troll/flame and the fans of players x to defend him). But would this guy actually own up to "criticism" he bestowes on players in articles in real life? Hell no, this guy is a coward, just like most of his colleagues. You think he would actually ask Nadal or anybody from the Nadal camp why the give out (seemingly) contradictory information? If he would truly believe what he writes he would certainly do so. And unlike us, he actually can set up a face to face with Nadal.

I bet you the next time he is in a press conference with Nadal he will ask safe PR questions and in return get safe PR answers.

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Sure, that seems to be Bodo's tactic, but again, if you stopped worrying about who wrote the article, and actually concentrate on what was written in it, you might see that it's a lot of the same questions most people (besides Rafa fans like yourself) have. You can't deny that the Nadal camp has contradicted themselves time and again throughout this whole charade (if you want to call it that), or that Nadal has "controversial knees." Instead, Rafa fans prefer to take the defensive, sensitive stance instead of seeing what's right in front of them.

Sure, that seems to be Bodo's tactic, but again, if you stopped worrying about who wrote the article, and actually concentrate on what was written in it, you might see that it's a lot of the same questions most people (besides Rafa fans like yourself) have. You can't deny that the Nadal camp has contradicted themselves time and again throughout this whole charade (if you want to call it that), or that Nadal has "controversial knees." Instead, Rafa fans prefer to take the defensive, sensitive stance instead of seeing what's right in front of them.

Sure, that seems to be Bodo's tactic, but again, if you stopped worrying about who wrote the article, and actually concentrate on what was written in it, you might see that it's a lot of the same questions most people (besides Rafa fans like yourself) have. You can't deny that the Nadal camp has contradicted themselves time and again throughout this whole charade (if you want to call it that), or that Nadal has "controversial knees." Instead, Rafa fans prefer to take the defensive, sensitive stance instead of seeing what's right in front of them.

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Bodo isn't fit to judge on what is controversial or contradictory since he doesn't even know that Nadal has a chronic condition and blurbs out at the end a sort of "but why doesn't he get surgery so we can stop all this info about his bad knees and live happily ever after?". Not to mention that if you write about contradictory statements in an article, you should at least give an example(with timeline and all that) of one to better make your point. Bodo doesn't know or care about these statements enough to track down even an example(which shouldn't take too long if the Nadals give out contradictory statements day in day out), he just wants to rack up the hits. Poor journalism as it were.

And I love how he gives the example of Peterson's far worse knee when so many people online suspect the guy of using illegal substances to recover so fast. If Nadal had come back on court in 2-3 months, then he wouldn't really have had an injury, probably just mental woes from his Rosol loss or silent ban. Now that Nadal comes back after 7 months, it's a SURE THING that he had NO INJURY and was probably silently banned as well.

There is no win for Nadal here.

If Bodo wants to adress the "contradictory statements" he should do so FACE TO FACE, not in a flimsly article online where his ass is safe. I won't deny that the Nadal camp does blow smoke from time(are we saying that there are PR statements from other camps are genuinely honest in what they give out?) but it's to cover their own guy's weaknesses at the time of the statement. For example, I don't believe Nadal had a stomach virus to keep him out of AO, his knees were still hurting and didn't want to pound them for 2 weeks on HC in his first official matches. But if he said that then people would be worried, AO organizers would be pretty pissed so they gave Rafa a disease to work with and everybody was happy, Rafa had an alibi and could avoid HC for now, the fact that his knee was still wonky was hidden for the time being and AO organizers couldn't really get mad at Nadal for catching a disease.

Nadal was facing the possible end of his tennis career at just 19 years of age, and Bodo was accusing him of PED use? Classy. And that was before Nadal became Federer's head-to-head nemesis.

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Honestly, if you look at the history of Nadal's injuries and the insane and contradictory excuses that have come out of the Nadal camp for years it is a miracle more sports journalists are not asking that question, not only of Nadal but about other players as well. It is impossible not to think there is something amiss going on there.

If the knees are so damaged that he is still experiencing pain why was he jet skiing and participating in golf tournaments?? Cuz you know bending the knees is just the ticket for a patellar tendon tear.

******* and his camp should just stop talking cuz nothing they say makes any damn sense.

Apparently, Bodo has never had tendinitis. Bad cases take months to heal and be pain free (if it heals at all). It took a good 9 months for my forearm to heal, and I'm only a teaching pro, not a pro player.

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But Nadal apparently does not just have tendinitis. He supposedly has a partial patellar tendon rupture and Hoffa's Syndrome. :lol:

Didn't those 2 issues surface only after the Wimbledon loss? Had Nadal ever talked about either issue before? So we are to believe that he developed those two issues at some point and yet played the match of this life at the FO and then went on to play singles and doubles in Halle and then played Wimbledon without any clue of any discomfort? Then after Wimbledon he was jet-skiing and golfing with those serious knee injuries? How on earth can some Nadal fans not see how some more objective fans may question this whole injury fiasco? :shock:

Didn't those 2 issues surface only after the Wimbledon loss? Had Nadal ever talked about either issue before? So we are to believe that he developed those two issues at some point and yet played the match of this life at the FO and then went on to play singles and doubles in Halle and then played Wimbledon without any clue of any discomfort? Then after Wimbledon he was jet-skiing and golfing with those serious knee injuries? How on earth can some Nadal fans not see how some more objective fans may question this whole injury fiasco? :shock:

Didn't those 2 issues surface only after the Wimbledon loss? Had Nadal ever talked about either issue before? So we are to believe that he developed those two issues at some point and yet played the match of this life at the FO and then went on to play singles and doubles in Halle and then played Wimbledon without any clue of any discomfort? Then after Wimbledon he was jet-skiing and golfing with those serious knee injuries? How on earth can some Nadal fans not see how some more objective fans may question this whole injury fiasco? :shock:

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Why do you care so much about tennis players? If tennis is important to you, go pick up a racket and hit some balls. I don't get this obsession with pro players.

Bodo isn't fit to judge on what is controversial or contradictory since he doesn't even know that Nadal has a chronic condition and blurbs out at the end a sort of "but why doesn't he get surgery so we can stop all this info about his bad knees and live happily ever after?". Not to mention that if you write about contradictory statements in an article, you should at least give an example(with timeline and all that) of one to better make your point. Bodo doesn't know or care about these statements enough to track down even an example(which shouldn't take too long if the Nadals give out contradictory statements day in day out), he just wants to rack up the hits. Poor journalism as it were.

And I love how he gives the example of Peterson's far worse knee when so many people online suspect the guy of using illegal substances to recover so fast. If Nadal had come back on court in 2-3 months, then he wouldn't really have had an injury, probably just mental woes from his Rosol loss or silent ban. Now that Nadal comes back after 7 months, it's a SURE THING that he had NO INJURY and was probably silently banned as well.

There is no win for Nadal here.

If Bodo wants to adress the "contradictory statements" he should do so FACE TO FACE, not in a flimsly article online where his ass is safe. I won't deny that the Nadal camp does blow smoke from time(are we saying that there are PR statements from other camps are genuinely honest in what they give out?) but it's to cover their own guy's weaknesses at the time of the statement. For example, I don't believe Nadal had a stomach virus to keep him out of AO, his knees were still hurting and didn't want to pound them for 2 weeks on HC in his first official matches. But if he said that then people would be worried, AO organizers would be pretty pissed so they gave Rafa a disease to work with and everybody was happy, Rafa had an alibi and could avoid HC for now, the fact that his knee was still wonky was hidden for the time being and AO organizers couldn't really get mad at Nadal for catching a disease.

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Ok so Nadal has a chronic condition in his foot, but I laugh at people that use this excuse for every supposed knee problem he has. You may not think so, but I believe Nadal would still have knee problems regardless. If not his knees it would be something else. You can't do what Nadal does on a tennis court and get away with it injury wise. And why isn't Bodo fit to judge what's controversial or contradictory? He's as fit as the rest of us. Nadal playing golf, and jet-skiing with bad knees is not contradictory? I'm sure Bodo could tell you that as well as anybody else. Or even targeting his return for a bunch of HC tournaments when it was quite obvious he would return on clay.

As far as Peterson goes, well then, he was in the same situation as Nadal was he not? In his time off being accused of using illegal substances. Sound familiar? Yet you have only taken a shot at Peterson here, and said "There is no win for Nadal here." Isn't that a little bit biased?

In fact here is a snippet about Peterson's case of "blowing out" his knee.

Decreasing the time to return to play after an ACL injury starts years in advance of the injury. Someone like AP—no excessive body weight, extremely healthy and phenomenally strong—is predisposed to a quick recovery. This can also be said for Derrick Rose, Georges St. Pierre, Tom Brady and Wes Welker.

Peterson played a competitive game about nine months after his surgery. This length of time is not unusual. The difference was his performance. He immediately demonstrated the same speed, agility and power that had previously defined him as a player.

In a Chicago Sun Times article, Peterson explained that he put a heavy emphasis on the early part of his rehab, which can be frustrating for athletes. He said, ''If you're unfortunate to have that injury, don't talk about what you're going to do. Be about it and grind like you've never grinded before. If you have to be able to come back and be better than before, you can't take it lightly.''

In most cases, a therapist will focus on range of motion and muscle engagement exercises during the early phase of rehab. For Peterson and other highly-trained athletes, more advanced exercises with resistance can be performed earlier in the program, albeit with a highly monitored and controlled range of motion. Common exercises include:

I do agree though that Bodo should confront Nadal face to face, but journos like Bodo will do this all the time. It's not exactly fair, but again, some of the questions he raised were valid IMO. A lot of people (even some Rafa fans) have thought about these questions. Be honest.

Nadal playing golf, and jet-skiing with bad knees is not contradictory?

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No it isn't. It depends on how he is healing, how he feels, and yes, how stupid we can all be when we don't heed doctor's advice. It is not contradictory because he doesn't have to live life the way you or Bozo wants it. Bozo is a parasite who depends on real achievers to write articles about.

A. Bodo has a point. Rafa is a drama queen. He is no real "warrior" or super competitor because he makes whiney baby excuses every time he loses and then proceeds to take huge breaks from the game repeatedly. Rafa and his camp refuse to seek surgical treatment and he then makes conflicting statements about his true state of health often saying "its better" and "I'm ready to play" followed by "it still hurts" and "I am not 100%" in the same statement.

or

B. SILENT BAN. Everything Rafa and his camp say are lies and coverups which explains the vagueness, contradicting statements, and excuses.

No it isn't. It depends on how he is healing, how he feels, and yes, how stupid we can all be when we don't heed doctor's advice. It is not contradictory because he doesn't have to live life the way you or Bozo wants it. Bozo is a parasite who depends on real achievers to write articles about.

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So how about contrasting these newest statements about Nadal's knees actually not being fully 100% and the fact that Toni earlier said there would be no "band-aid" solutions. If that's not contradictory, it's incredibly close. Close enough for any sane person to notice that he's being contradictory. I don't care what you feel about "Bozo," he raises some valid questions, and if all you Nadal fans stopped taking an incredibly defensive stance on the issue, and attacking Bodo, you might realize that.

So how about contrasting these newest statements about Nadal's knees actually not being fully 100% and the fact that Toni earlier said there would be no "band-aid" solutions. If that's not contradictory, it's incredibly close. Close enough for any sane person to notice that he's being contradictory. I don't care what you feel about "Bozo," he raises some valid questions, and if all you Nadal fans stopped taking an incredibly defensive stance on the issue, and attacking Bodo, you might realize that.

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I'm not a Nadal fan. Bozo is awful, and even though he may raise some valid questions at times, his reasoning is awful, his explanations and analogies are awful, and deserves to constantly have his credibility attacked.

I'm not a Nadal fan. Bozo is awful, and even though he may raise some valid questions at times, his reasoning is awful, his explanations and analogies are awful, and deserves to constantly have his credibility attacked.

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That's my point. I don't care how you feel about "Bozo." Looking at this article as a stand alone, it's not as bad as people are making it out to be.

What I find strange is that the Rafa fans here and elsewhere are not even worried about how Rafe will do upon his return. Pretty much everyone is convinced he will be back to his old form. The guy's been away for 7 months! If my favourite player had been away for 7 months I'd be terrified that he might never win a another match. Why is it a foregone conclusion that he will not only a) be back to his old self but b) win every clay tournament he enters this year?:shock:

What I find strange is that the Rafa fans here and elsewhere are not even worried about how Rafe will do upon his return. Pretty much everyone is convinced he will be back to his old form. The guy's been away for 7 months! If my favourite player had been away for 7 months I'd be terrified that he might never win a another match. Why is it a foregone conclusion that he will not only a) be back to his old self but b) win every clay tournament he enters this year?:shock:

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Eh? I got the completely different impression from Nadal fans, most are cautiously optimistic at best.

Hey I was the first one to call it. There was something really fishy about how he skipped the aussie open when he was technically "cleared" to play Doha which was 2-3 weeks ahead of the GS siting sickness.

I really do think his knees are giving him more issues than he's letting on. But I still think he's the overwhelming favorite for any clay court event. He is better than anyone else on 1 foot than the rest of the field. Two bad knees, no problem. Nadal can handle this.

What I find strange is that the Rafa fans here and elsewhere are not even worried about how Rafe will do upon his return. Pretty much everyone is convinced he will be back to his old form. The guy's been away for 7 months! If my favourite player had been away for 7 months I'd be terrified that he might never win a another match. Why is it a foregone conclusion that he will not only a) be back to his old self but b) win every clay tournament he enters this year?:shock:

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I am a Federer fan but I don't dislike Nadal like so many do on here and I have to ask you, who is going to stop Nadal on clay? This guy is the greatest ever on clay (along with Bjorn Borg) for a reason, who in the current field is going to be a big threat to this guy on clay? It should tell you something about the field that he has been away for seven months and he is still ranked 5th in the world.

I am a Federer fan but I don't dislike Nadal like so many do on here and I have to ask you, who is going to stop Nadal on clay? This guy is the greatest ever on clay (along with Bjorn Borg) for a reason, who in the current field is going to be a big threat to this guy on clay? It should tell you something about the field that he has been away for seven months and he is still ranked 5th in the world.

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I don't know who will stop him but I just think it's incredible that the guy is away for 7 months and he's still the fav to win not only RG but every clay tournament leading up to it. Surely the knee injury must take a little bit out of him? No? What about other clay specialists? I know the other Spaniards are all in awe of him but what about the S. Americans? And we know Djoker can win clay tournaments. But I hate the thought of him cleaning up on clay. Ideally it would be nice if a few different players could step it up and win some clay tournies. If Nadal wins everything then there is really something seriously wrong with tennis today.

I don't know who will stop him but I just think it's incredible that the guy is away for 7 months and he's still the fav to win not only RG but every clay tournament leading up to it. Surely the knee injury must take a little bit out of him? No? What about other clay specialists? I know the other Spaniards are all in awe of him but what about the S. Americans? And we know Djoker can win clay tournaments. But I hate the thought of him cleaning up on clay. Ideally it would be nice if a few different players could step it up and win some clay tournies.

If Nadal wins everything then there is really something seriously wrong with tennis today.

And no, this isn't some jinx. I simply won't look past him on that surface on that court. He has earned by utmost respect, and simply put - To be the man, you got to beat the man. And he is not beaten yet.

And no, this isn't some jinx. I simply won't look past him on that surface on that court. He has earned by utmost respect, and simply put - To be the man, you got to beat the man. And he is not beaten yet.

And no, this isn't some jinx. I simply won't look past him on that surface on that court. He has earned by utmost respect, and simply put - To be the man, you got to beat the man. And he is not beaten yet.